


Recurrence

by satashii



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: AI misadventures, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Rating likely to increase, Reyes-centric, Temporary Character Death, unbeta’d as usual
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:15:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22299166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satashii/pseuds/satashii
Summary: Reyes thought he’d reached the end... only to be sent back to the beginning by an interfering AI.  If you had to do it all over again, would you?  If you could change things for the better, would you?  It seems Reyes is going to have to answer those questions.
Relationships: Male Ryder | Scott/Reyes Vidal
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Rating likely to increase as story progresses—teen for swearing at the moment. This story is likely to be updated less often than An Andromeda Tale. 
> 
> Dedicated to all the time travel redo fics I’ve ever read in multiple fandoms as well as my favorite sub genre of science fiction.

It had been six months since Scott died. Six months since both of their sons had been taken as well in the same attack that had torn Reyes’ soul to pieces.The Kett’s aggressive push into Heleus had intensified and Reyes’ side was loosing the war—Kadara had fallen early as they’d been unprepared for the bombardment. Even if they’d had any idea what was coming, there was no way they would have been able to keep their homes. He’d been moving from bolt hole to resistance base to transport ship for the last two years, and despite being surrounded by fellow Milky Way people and angarans, he had become increasingly isolated as he emotionally shut down so he could keep moving towards his goal.

Most of his conversations these days tended to be with SAM.He’d gotten an implant shortly after he’d married Scott. With the nanites in his system it had made sense to use them to the utmost advantage so Lexi had agreed and performed the surgery.Repeat exposure to Scott’s body fluids had resulted in a transfer of enough nanites to Reyes’ system to be self-sustaining, hence his body was now augmented somewhat similarly to how Scott’s had been.Albeit Reyes didn’t have his love’s special forces training to back it up, he still was a reliable force to be reckoned with in his own right.Unfortunately, this had meant that he and Scott had been most effective when separated and running their own teams. 

He’d lived for the brief moments he had with Scott and their two sons and his thoughts skittered away from the pain their mental image brought. Scott had been found by Reyes with their six week old son Alec in his arms, their two and a half year old Alejandro (named after Reyes’ own father) just feet away.The image would never leave him, it hovered in his subconscious thoughts day in and day out. His life had become one skirmish with the Kett after another.No matter how many he took out, it would never bring them back.

And now... now he had lived for revenge but his time and luck was seemingly running out. 

Meridian was more than just a planet, they’d discovered.Over time, interfacing the the work of the builders, they’d come to find that the entire planet was a complex AI of sorts that helped run the vaults but was maybe self aware. And they weren’t fully sure that the Jardaan weren’t AIs... but they did seem to have had physical bodies at some point given how the vaults had been built but they had yet to find any DNA evidence of the species that had built Meridian.

The fighting had reached Meridian and they’d been forced deeper into the vault as they tried to keep the Kett out, deeper than Reyes had ever been before and even SAM was unsure where exactly they were even after the weeks he’d spent exploring the deep parts of the vault with Scott before the war broke out.Reyes had been fighting with an Angaran squad the last several weeks—hadn’t seen a fellow human in over a month at this point. He’d last seen several dead Kett and he could hear their guttural language echoing around him despite his hidden place in the shadows of the room he was in.He didn’t know where his team had gone.

The room was cavernous and had the ferrofluid flowing like a waterfall from a spot high up in the dark creases of the roof and cascading in a column of watery light into the center of the room where it formed a pool.There was an access console just outside of the waves of fluid but Reyes had ignored it.SAM was calculating their next move as he tried to catch his breath.He’d taken a shot to his right side that was oozing blood, his armor battered and cracked from the strength of the hit as multiple shots had targeted the weak point in his damaged armor. He was out of medigel so he’d been holding pressure, trying to stop the bleeding as the nanites went to work to repair his damaged tissue.

Watching as a Kett stepped up to the console, Reyes didn’t make any noise but watched as they tried to interact with the console but it remained inactive despite multiple efforts to activate it.The Kett was an Ascendent by the markings on the armor and the shape of it’s body. Damnit.So he’d been right.They’d been tracking him specifically to follow him in here.Reyes had made enough of a nuisance of himself to ruling elite of the Kett that he now had the equivalent of a bounty on his head and a shoot-to kill-on-sight order.Every time he was recognized by the Kett, he was then trailed by Ascendent-class assassins. He’d become Kett-famous he supposed but it was a pain in the ass.

He gripped his ushior tighter in his right hand—he had three shots left and then he was out. The Ascendent had a rifle slung across one shoulder as it pressed frustratedly at the console but it was distracted. Asking SAM for assistance, he raised the gun and sighted down the barrel, lining up a kill shot.His muscles trembled in fatigue and pain but SAM overrode them and his grip became more sure and he squeezed off the shot even though his hand immediately fell after the bullet left the gun.

The Ascendent fell, dark blue green blood coming from it’s eye socket as brain matter blew out the other side of it’s skull as the punch of the ushior’s shot hit it dead on. Score one for the AI-assisted shooting. Reyes grimaced as he held his side and leaned heavily against the wall to put most of his weight off his feet, feeling the bleeding pick up from not holding pressure while he was distracted.

“SAM?” He asked, his voice raspy and dry, betraying more about his poor physical situation than he’d like if anyone happened to overhear.

SAM sounded concerned when he replied. “I would advise holding still while the nanites repair your wound.Your nutritional status is affecting how quickly they are working as your reserves are minimal and they are repurposing dead tissue.”

“No shit,” Reyes replied. He was so tired and he could feel the energy drain as the nanites worked to repair his body. The nanites were good but they needed something to work with and well... supplies had been intermittent the last month or so and he’d been the only human working with an Angaran team. It wasn’t like he had an appetite to begin with. The pain in his side felt like a hot poker had been shoved in but he held pressure to help hold things in place and the bleeding seemed to decrease. “SAM?” He tried again, trying to unstick his tongue from the roof of his dry mouth.

“Yes Reyes?”SAM was worried. He’d made his unemotional live-in AI worried. It was as bad as he assumed.

“What’s our next step? What does the console control?”He wouldn’t ask how bad his wound was. SAM sounded concerned so it had to be worse than he’d originally thought.

There was a prolonged pause before SAM replied. “Your next step will be to shelter in place and allow the nanites to do their job.I am working on locating a console that will allow us to selectively cut off parts of the surrounding hallways and rooms to isolate the kett.”

“Really?”Reyes couldn’t contain his disbelief.SAM didn’t like to hedge like this—it was against his programing.

“You will shelter in place.Give the nanites time.” SAM was firm when he told Reyes this.Reyes knew that meant that all the numbers weren’t giving SAM any more comfort than his thoughts were giving him.

“SAM.... it’s bad isn’t it?” Reyes finally asked for confirmation. He knew the odds were the reason his team hadn’t come looking for him were because they were all dead.

SAM again took his time before replying, Reyes almost letting his eyes slide closed in fatigue before the AI replied, his vision blurring alarmingly as he tried to stay awake. “Your team is most likely dead.I am unable to find their life signs any longer.”

“Thought so.Been running on borrowed time for a while now....” his voice remained raspy but it now had a slight slur to it. His hands that had been holding pressure were numb and his body shivered at the cold feeling that was taking over.

“The wound you have taken has caused significant damage to your liver which is a highly vascular organ....”

“I know,” he cut SAM off as he noticed that it was getting harder to breathe—feeling both short of breath as well as his breaths sounding wet and the effort of drawing in air caused a painful spike in the center of his chest. “I’m bleeding to death right?”

“You have multiple injuries that are potentially life ending....”

So his lungs were hurt too and probably his gut that he couldn’t feel due to an earlier intervention yesterday. “What can I do to make it count SAM?”

SAM paused for a brief period of time after this question. “There is nothing you can do to ‘make it count’ Reyes.It has been the honor of my life to work with you and your husband and I would never choose otherwise were I given the choice.”

“Thank you SAM.”Reyes paused before asking, “SAM?”He knew SAM would understand. He was fading quickly but stubbornly was holding onto consciousness. “What can I do?”

“A system reset would result in a scouring of the inner core of Meridian similar to a Vault’s reset but leave the biosphere intact.”

“Resulting in the death of whatever kett followed us in here but leaving the gardens?” He’d listened to Scott’s tales of running for his life every time he’d reactivated one of the vaults. Reyes had also heard stories of what happened if you were in the vault and didn’t make it to safety in time.

“...yes.I am not picking up any angaran or Milky Way species life signs within the inner parts of Meridian.”

“Then let’s do that.I’m going to take as many of them out with me as I can.” One final big ‘fuck you’ to the kett.Scott would approve of his plan.He’d see Scott soon if there was an afterlife.If there wasn’t... well then he’d be at peace, the gaping raw emotional wounds on his soul no longer able to touch him and remind him of what he’d lost.He could almost see Scott at the edge of his vision, just past where his peripheral vision ended, where he always seemed to be nowadays.

With SAM’s help, he stood and made his way lurching side to side in a stumble to the console and pushed the Ascendent’s body off to the side with a large thud. Gripping the edges tightly, he got his feet under him and braced with his left hand as he held his right out to interface with the console.He could feel the blood flowing from his side and his breathing temporarily improved as he felt SAM begin the interface. The ferrofluid waterfall began to dance around him in twirls of fluid like a dancing fountain as the fluid levels increased and he could feel it tickling violently as it first touched his ankles and then began to climb up to knee height. A rumbling from deep under his feet spread and soon surrounded him, the metallic purr deafening any further conversation he might have attempted with SAM. His right hand was frozen, locked in place as SAM used him to interface with the AI of Meridian. He had a distant headache that told him he was doing something that was too much for his body but he didn’t care.

The ferrofluid rose higher, coming up to just underneath his breast and he could feel the sting as it found the wound and entered his body with his armor shielding already depleted from earlier. His body jolted as he was hit in the back by several bullets but his hand remained locked in place, SAM doing what he’d requested. As the fluid rose higher, the console and his body became submerged.One last breath and then he was surrounded by the milky fluid. Loosing control, he took one last inhale of ferrofluid before consciousness fled, the air that had been in his lungs pushing out as instincts took over and he faded to the black, unfeeling arms of unconsciousness.His last thoughts were of his husband.

***

Reyes nuzzled into the pillow under his face, breathing in the comforting scents of sex, aftershave and his husband that comforted him in the darkness of his bedroom at home on Kadara. His body felt loose like it did after really great round of sex but Scott wasn’t next to him and draped around him in his usual octopus-like way. He stretched his back and limbs before rolling over from his side to his back, reaching for where Scott should be but his hand encountered only cool and dry sheets. Waking up more fully, Reyes blinked as he rolled further to try and find his errant husband.

He was in their rooms on Kadara... which didn’t make any sense.He knew he wasn’t supposed to be here... how...his hands cupped his head as a splitting headache made itself known and he curled forward over his bent legs, clutching his head. A whimper must have escaped him and he felt a warm hand card itself through his hair before strong arms encircled him.Reyes would recognize that grip anywhere—Scott. Scott joined him on the bed, rearranging them so he was behind Reyes and leaning against the headboard, pulling Reyes into his lap with his head tucked under Scott’s chin.They were both fully clothed and it didn’t make sense to Reyes but his headache made him keep his eyes closed as he fought nausea with the position changes. He didn’t sleep in his clothes... activating Meridian’s reset... he remembered drowning in the ferrofluid.

“Scott?” He asked, trying to make sense of what was going on but trying not to panic because Scott was here... wherever here was.He shouldn’t be here... and if this was the afterlife then he wanted his husband to explain why he had a headache.

“I am not Scott,” said Scott’s voice which made Reyes start struggling until the arms released him. The voice was Scott’s but the inflection was completely alien. Freeing himself from Scott’s arms, Reyes stared at his husband’s face.The expression on it was uncanny and he’d never seen Scott hold himself that way. Scott’s facial expression was frozenly neutral without an expression but his eyes were the same color as the ferrofluid and lacked pupils. Whatever had been just holding him looked like his husband but wasn’t him.

“Who the fuck are you?Where am I?”Reyes found himself asking, his voice still raspy now with an edge of panic.He couldn’t feel any of his injuries anymore and his body felt fine... which it shouldn’t.His hands patted down his body, going instinctively to where he’d been injured on his right side and chest and not locating the wounds he knew should be there even as he pulled his shirt up to look at the unblemished skin which made him feel like he was hyperventilating. Finding himself at the edge of the bed, he almost tumbled off but the not-Scott firmly gripped his arms and pulled him back before he could overbalance and steadied him.

“I am what you call Meridian...would be the closest answer that you would understand.I picked this form and place to speak with you as you seemed to be thinking of it when you died and I assumed it would bring you comfort.”Scott’s familiar face remained unmoved as Meridian spoke, his mouth moving but no other human tics or gestures accompanied the words.

“Well it doesn’t.You’re not my husband and this isn’t whatever the afterlife looks like is it?”Reyes couldn’t help the hostility in his voice.Where the fuck was he?

Meridian paused and regarded him before touching him in the center of his chest which made the sensation of panic melt away artificially.Reyes knew he theoretically would normally still be freaking out and hostile... but the physical symptoms just stopped. He pulled away so that Meridian wasn’t touching him but didn’t leave the bed.He wanted answers. “Your human construct of an afterlife is one of many theories about what happens after death and I cannot answer that question for you. Death is a finality that I have not been able to cross myself.”

“Try explaining.I should be dead.What is this if not death?”

“You are not completely dead.... to your way of understanding it.When you activated my center console you reset my security parameters which resulted in the deaths of approximately 238 organisms that you designate ‘kett’.You, however, I preserved in the ferrofluid for further study as you are interesting to me.”

“I’m interesting?”Reyes tried not to sound like Meridian was an idiot but he winced at how accusatory his voice sounded. “What would make me interesting enough to stop me from dying?I was perfectly fine with figuring out if there was an afterlife.”

“You are unique.You and the one you call Scott, your husband who I understand has died. You have both used my consoles and are able to integrate with my technology despite the primitive nature of your species which interests me.You also work alongside my creator’s children.”

“We’re not the only ones who use your consoles,” Reyes stated as a question. He’d watched others with SAM implants use the more simple consoles to get bridges working etc.Peebee had been particularly gifted at operating the controls for the Remnant robots before she’d been killed on Havarl shortly after Scott died.

“Yes.But you are the only two who have integrated non-organic life forms into your body to such an extent that they work harmoniously to maintain your body.” 

The bloody AI was interested in him because of the nanites that Scott had been injected with by the Kett and then shared with Reyes accidentally as the most awkward STI ever. “You’re interested in the nanites.But Kett have nanites.”’

Meridian cocked his head like Scott would when he thought before answering.In fact, the longer they talked the more Meridian was moving Scott’s face into semblance of expressions and even used a hand to gesture as he (was it a he?) moved his hand.Was the AI picking up the mannerisms from Reyes?There were so many questions clouding his thoughts.

“The Kett use nanites for their reproduction when they force other species to become biologically one of theirs. They do not use it in a continued symbiotic relationship such as you and must manufacture their nanites.Yours are unique comparatively.”

Reyes stared at Meridian. “So why keep me here?Wherever here is...” he mumbled the last part to himself.He couldn’t help the spike of despair that he immediately pushed down.Was he to spend eternity as some sort of lab specimen?

Meridian frowned at him.“You are not satisfied with being alive?All beings strive to maintain their own existence.”

He was unable to temper his response. “I was expecting to find out whatever comes next after this life. I have been waiting for it.If there is an afterlife after this one I want to spend it with my family.”

“You wish to die?”Meridian seemed surprised by his answer.

Reyes sighed, clutching at his head as his gaze dropped to the stitching on the blankets.Wherever or whatever he was, the amount of detail that the AI was putting into this was incredibly lifelike.Organizing his thoughts, hetried to verbalize his feelings on existing without his family, without Scott. “My family is dead.I thought I was following them.I’ve been pursuing the Kett as my family died in one of their raids.”

“So your objection is that your family is not here?” The AI asked for clarification.

Looking up, Reyes nodded as his gaze went unfocused, realizing he was crying silently and he was shaking slightly.“I... I miss them so much. I thought I could see them again...”

Meridian did not immediately reply but seemed to study Reyes as he knotted his hands into the blankets, trying to ground himself and stop crying.The AI didn’t seem to know what to do with the emotional display in front of it.

“I desire to continue to see what you will do as you are interesting,” the AI finally said.

Reyes looked dumbfounded at the AI. “What?”

“You desire to see your family again but they are deceased—which I cannot fix in the here and now.”

Repeating himself, Reyes still didn’t get what the AI was implying. “What?”

“I cannot fix that in the here and now. Therefore, I have another solution that my creators were experimenting with before the war that led to the Scourge.”

“I still don’t know what you’re talking about,” Reyes sniffed a little, wiping his face as he glared at the AI.

Meridian gave a smile that was more scary and creepy than comforting on Scott’s face as it still wasn’t a natural looking smile.Scott never looked that falsely sunny in his life. “You wish to see your family again and I wish to continue to see what new interventions you will take.This will also allow me to continue to study the other subject similar to yourself.”

“Wha...?” Reyes tried to speak as he abruptly faded out to darkness and was unconscious again, the awareness of the simulation fading as the AI made it’s decision of what it was going to do and implemented it.

***

Reyes felt sluggish, his limbs heavy and each breath slow and deep.He was cold but somehow unbothered by it.He could hear an irritating beeping coming from somewhere close by but he was too tired to try and make it stop. He tried to shift his weight to get more comfortable but his arm bumped into the smooth glass wall of his cryo tube which made his eyes open to slits. There was hardly any light but he could see two indicator lights beeping close to his face, their sound barely audible. As he released a breath, it clouded in the air as the moisture hit the coolness of the cryo bay, the glass fogging up only centimeters from his nose.

His eyes slid shut only to pop open in shock.Cryotube? He was in a cryotube.... which then rumbled underneath him and he could hear noise. There was a sense of movement and his tube was moving into the retrieval position as a large clamp attached with a clunk. Now freaked out, he tried to move but was restricted by the tight parameters of the cryotube and his muscles sluggishly reacting. The indicator lights indicated that he was in the process of being awoken.Last time... last time he’d woken up in medbay. He could hear talk from a human and a turian, identified by the subvocals and clicks in his speech as his mandibles flared, as they moved his frosted over cryotube so he couldn’t see them.

They took him to medbay... and a doctor he only vaguely recognized swiped a cloth across the face section of his tube to see in.Shifting in agitation, Reyes tried to communicate that he was already awake.Seeing Reyes’ eyes were open, the man’s eyes widened in surprise before he disappeared from sight.Reyes could hear the man exclaiming and working to open the cryotube. Several other voices were identifiable, none familiar to him.

The cryotube cycled through rewarming in a matter of minutes, which was an experience he’d skipped mostly the first time. When the glass front cycled open, Reyes was shivering violently and he felt terrible—nauseous and weaker than a newborn kitten. He was in his damaged armor, his ushior in his side holster but the medbay he was in was identical to the one he’d been awoken in on the Nexus.

Helpful hands lifted him out of the tube and onto a biobed which began scanning him.The bright overhead lights of the medbay made him close his eyes as he took the basin so he could vomit stomach acid and he curled onto his side, the hands holding him so he wouldn’t fall out of the bed. A pinch at his neck and the nausea improved enough to make him stop retching. His limbs felt like they’d been weighted down with lead but he uncurled enough for the man he assumed was the doctor to shine a bright light in his eyes, making him growl at the man and push him away. “Just a moment,” he told the doctor.

“Take your time.You’re having a reaction to the cryostasis but your vitals are strong.We’ll need to see if your neurological function has been impaired though since you woke up too quickly.How long were you awake?”The voice was kind and patient, just like a great doctor should be but Reyes was instantly suspicious. Was he in some kind of simulation? Meridian could go fuck itself if it was playing with him.

“Woke up a little bit ago,” Reyes answered the doctor after reasoning there was no reason not to play along.“Not too long before the clamp pulled my tube down from the rack.”

The doc made a humming sound as he did something on the biobed monitor. Reyes opened his eyes to slits to make sure no recurrence of the bright penlight was imminent before releasing the basin to the doc’s assistant which was a turian. Carefully sliding to be more centered in the bed, Reyes rolled onto his back and rubbed his face.He could feel the growth of his beard that he’d allowed to grow out after Scott’s death but his skin felt dry in the medbay environment.

“Your vitals are stabilizing... but I wasn’t aware that anyone that shipped on the Nexus had a SAM implant,” the doctor offered as he worked.

Reyes tried not to show his surprise—he couldn’t feel the steady presence of SAM in the back of his mind that had been present for the last several years and he unexpectedly felt an emptiness at the lack of it. “Yeah.... about that. I’m pretty sure it’s not working...”

“It shouldn’t.Without a communication relay with the Hyperion your SAM implant won’t work.Were you originally part of the Pathfinder team?”The doc continued to tap on the datapad and wasn’t looking at Reyes, distracted by the information flow.

Reyes was aware of that.The communication relay in his armor should be able to hook him up to SAM unless the Hyperion wasn’t within range or didn’t have it’s own communication relay activated...Which if he was still on Meridian then that didn’t make sense.The Hyperion was anchored in Port Meridian which when he’d last checked had been abandoned but still running with a force field in place to prevent Kett from getting in. “I washed out,” Reyes offered as an explanation, waiting to see what the doc would say.

“Must have been a late washout but until the Hyperion gets here you’ll just have a nonfunctional implant.Maybe when they get there they’ll still take you given they took the time to give you an implant,” the Doc paused and looked at him.Doc was a middle aged Asian man, appeared to have taken good care of himself but had what Reyes thought of as ‘distracted scientist’ look about him. “What am I saying?I need to check your neuro exam and then we can chat if we have extra time.Can I have your name, birthdate and place of birth?”

Arching an eyebrow, Reyes remembered this part of the exam from when he’d first been awakened and continued to cooperate, giving the information that would match his records. “Reyes Alejandro Vidal, May 4th 2158, Valparaiso, Chile.”

Doc nodded and the penlight made another appearance. Seeing Reyes grimace and look of disgust, the doc apologized. “I’ll make it quick. I just need to check your pupils and your eye movements.”

As promised, it was quick but it still left Reyes seeing spots in his vision from the light. Sitting up on the bed, the doc ran him through some coordination movements before allowing him to swing his legs to the side and stand.His muscles quickly remembered their function after a brief tremble and he was directed to walk forwards, backwards as well as perform a squat and then stand again as well as several other movements that showed his coordination functions were working.Satisfied, the doc made some notes on Reyes chart and let him sit before giving him a cup of coffee which he appreciated as he still felt chilled.He briefly glanced at the other occupants of medbay who appeared to be the same familiar mix of people being taken out of cryo as it had been the first time. In fact, medbay was bustling with medical personnel doing quick exams of those that had just been taken out of cryo, similar looks of suffering on the faces of the others who occupied similar biobeds to Reyes.

“You’re in good physical health despite the scarring...” the doc muttered as he continued to chart.

Reyes gave a nervous cough—he wanted desperately to escape and figure out what was going on.This was eerily similar to his first awakening from cryo but time travel didn’t work, right? This had to be another simulation like the one Meridian had used to talk with him.“Yeah.Do you need anything else or?”

“Nope.You’re good to go.I’ve got your assigned quarters and everything right here.You have about two hours before you need to report to your duty station.I’d recommend showering off the cryo. It’ll make you feel better and you’ll sleep better tonight.You can also change out of that armor—I don’t know who let you get into your cryotube in it.” Doc handed him the datapad he’d been working on. “This is your copy of the records to keep as everything is uploaded to servers here. I’ve included directions to your quarters.”

This was exactly how it’d gone previously albeit without the armor, ushior, and SAM implant.He’d have to give the AI props for getting it right in simulation but did that mean the damned thing could access his entire memory? Even the stuff he’d not really bothered paying attention to before?And if this was a simulation of the past, why was he still wearing his armor unless the AI was just messing with him? Murmuring a thanks, Reyes stood and briefly glanced at the datapad to verify that he was assigned the same quarters as before before walking out of medbay. 

No one stopped him as he made his way through the still under construction hallways that he remembered from before. Taking all the right turns as he knew where he was going, he was stopped twice and asked by bewildered looking crew members where such-and-such place was and he gave directions. Which was odd. He remembered it had taken him a long time to find his quarters the first time as the habitation quarters for the shuttle pilots had been close to the shuttle bays. 

Coming to a closed off area that hadn’t been completed yet, Reyes remembered that this section had been finished almost a month after he’d been awake the first time. Recalling a way around the blocked corridor, Reyes made his way to his quarters. The biometric lock recognized him and let him in to the common area.He could see his locker had been delivered in a stack with all the others and he went to it.Opening the locker, it was exactly as he’d packed it when he’d left the Milky Way.

Exactly the same.

A chill ran down his spine and this time it wasn’t associated with coming out of cryostasis.

What if this wasn’t a simulation?What if it was?What should he do?

Closing the locker, he gripped the data pad and swiped to awake the screen and checked the date.It told him what he expected—2818 March 13th. Fourteen months before the Hyperion would arrive.

Fourteen months....

Fourteen months until Scott would be here.

Fourteen months or more until his SAM implant would function... if it still worked in a simulation run by another AI... if this was a simulation.

But was this a simulation?How would he know for sure?Or was time travel actually possible if you were a super powered AI?Was this his original timeline if he’d been pushed back in time?Or was it possible he was in an alternative universe? So many questions... and none of them had answers.

But why put him in this place and time?

Why?


	2. 2

Reyes found himself falling into what he’d done before—mostly because he wasn’t sure what to do because he was afraid of screwing up something by unintended consequences. He had no power at this time—he was just a lowly shuttle pilot who was assigned to moving supplies and people between the Nexus and Eos.He’d had one trip to Habitat 7 and he’d almost gotten fried in the atmosphere—he’d forgotten about the electrical storms.

Without SAM he didn’t think he’d be able to interface with the vault and reset it. Which brought him to what he was so terrifyingly worried about—what would happen if he changed things?Was he really back in time?Did changing things have ripple effects? Would he make it worse? Or was this all some AI-simulated torture chamber and not real? A parallel universe? He was going mad from his unanswered questions.He’d briefly thought about making for Meridian by himself but without SAM... would he be able to interface and get in? Or would he just attract the wrong sort of attention—ie Kett attention—to Meridian before he’d have a chance to defend it.

So many questions that he couldn’t even begin to answer...

He’d missed Scott before he’d been sent back to wherever here was, the other half of his soul was missing and a raw ache that never went away. Now... now he just felt numb as he went about his work. Reyes had long ago perfected the poker face he wore each day that pretended to have normal emotions and was good at faking it to others. No one guessed that he was so conflicted. It was like he’d hit pause on his feelings, put them away until Scott would return. 

He was marking time and existing until then.

He would get his family back or go insane. There really was no other option for him.

One thing he knew he still had to do was to be there on Kadara and take over—Scott and he had long discussions after the coup that indicated Scott had supported him as he felt, and agreed with Reyes, that Sloane Kelly was a ticking time bomb.Her method of ruling over Kadara had not been long term viable. And given that Reyes knew the Kett would later invade?Sloane Kelly would be an even worse disaster. The Sloane Kelly Reyes had known would not listen to any crazy man talking about an invasion force that would literally round up everyone they could and then convert them.It was a crazy science fiction story plot that would never happen in the real world—until it had. There was no universe or timeline in which Sloane Kelly would be a better option than himself. He would freely admit to being biased but the woman was fucking crazy at the end and he had no desire to work on keeping her sane. He had more important things to do.

Which meant he needed to bide his time until the uprising and then leave with the other exiles like he had previously.He had to be in position to form the Collective and take over Kadara.He needed to be in a position of power so he could prepare for the Kett—advising from the sidelines had never been something he’d been good at. He also needed to warn Evfra and get him on his side as well as prepared for the war.Which would be interesting. Evfra had always liked him—more than Scott even despite Scott’s work for the Angara.

Onboard the Nexus he knew that he could likely trust Kesh if he could convince her he was telling the truth. Brecka was another person who he’d trusted before. Kandros.... if he could convince the Turian not to report him to Tann... but that was a big if.Tann was a nonstarter. Foster Addison was another nonstarter as well as her problematic assistant Spender. Both Addison and Tann had too much power on the Nexus and neither would be helpful—they’d just focus on using him to their political gain as they’d tried in his last life.

Last life?What else to refer to it as. Past life?He was going to drive himself mad with all his unanswered questions.

One question he had managed to answer was if the nanites were still present in his blood. In all the chaos, no one had been monitoring the bio labs late at night and he’d snuck in and cut himself, collecting some blood to put on a microscope slide. The fact that the simple cut had healed within minutes really had been answer enough but he’d needed to see it to know for sure. The slide had showed the nanites moving among his blood cells. He still was full of nanites which meant he needed to be careful who found out and avoid exposing anyone who wasn’t Scott.

Scott would have nanites either way at some point... although Reyes could admit he’d prefer that Scott get them from him rather than from being captured by the Archon. At least his way would be fun. SAM would know exactly what to do with them once Scott was exposed. Which led to the question: would he deliberately expose Scott to the nanites once he arrived? Should Reyes wait for Scott to come to him again? Could he wait that long knowing Scott was alive and awake and fighting for his life? The nanites were an insurance against severe injury—while they couldn’t stop everything they could do a lot. There was no way he wasn’t giving Scott every tool to protect himself.

He needed to stop pulling at his hair in frustration or he was going to have a bald spot.

It was only a week or so until the uprising would occur. He’d been slowly collecting supplies he’d need to have a good cushion for leaving the Nexus. After a lot of internal debate, he’d decided that he would leave at the same time he’d left the last time but he was going to make a detour to Aya and try to speak to Evfra. He prayed to god that he was making the right move.

Right now, however, he was waiting outside of Kesh’s office to speak with her, having made an appointment with a vague reason that he was pretty sure she’d seen through immediately as suspicious. Now that he was actually in front of her office, he was regretting having made the appointment. How the hell was he going to persuade her without coming off crazy.

The door swished open and Kesh’s familiar voice reached him.“Are you going to wait out there forever or are you going to come in?”

Looking up from his feet, Reyes saw that Kesh was standing in the doorway with an openly curious look on her face. The krogan female had one hand raised to the door switch she’d used to open the door while the other hung at her side. Reyes gave a sharp nod and took a step forward as she pulled back to let him in. She closed the door after him to give them privacy and walked to stand behind her desk.

Reyes, taking no chances, immediately ran the listening device detection program on his omnitool as he stood before her. He waited the thirty or so seconds for the program to complete before making eye contact again with Kesh. Her gaze was sharp and suspicious, body language careful and ready to react to whatever he was about to do.“I’m sorry but I need to make sure we’re not being recorded or monitored.”

This didn’t mollify the superintendent at all. “And why would you need to do that, shuttle pilot?”

Reyes backed up a bit to give her space, showing her that his hands were empty. “I wanted to speak with you about the current leadership structure,” he began vaguely.

“And what concern would that be of yours?” Was the sharp rebuke but it was obvious that Kesh was listening carefully to him, not having yet written him off as crazy.Her eyes glittered with intelligence, categorizing each movement and word. This was the crafty krogan he’d known before—just not yet fully realized in the power of her position on the Nexus. It would take time for that to happen. After the war had started, Kesh had been the only reason that the Nexus had never fallen to the Kett. She would be very important in the future and whatever boost he could give to their working relationship and her position he could help with would pay off in the future—assuming his past and future would progress similarly.

“I’d think it’s all of our concern when we’re looking at a violent uprising that is just going to damage all sides,” he cooly informed her, watching as she processed what he’d just said.

“And you’re here to do what? Warn me? Give me information on your fellow malcontents?” Kesh leaned forward, her hands on the desk.

“I’m hardly a malcontent. You could call me a concerned citizen of Heleus,” Reyes evaded instead, tone light. “I also know that whatever happens there’s a lot at stake.”

“Of course,” Kesh agreed, eyes narrowed. “Everything we attempt seems to go wrong as of late.”

Reyes nodded in agreement, purposefully relaxing his posture to telegraph to the krogan that he wasn’t here for a fight. “I’m serious when about the future.”

Kesh snorted. “Why are you here? Speak plainly. I am tired of the fools that waste my time each day coming up with harebrained schemes and frittering away time and money. I don’t have the patience for stupidity.”

He couldn’t hold back his own chuckle of laughter. Kesh had always been rather blunt and he’d appreciated that about her. Scott had adored her for it as he’d hated Tann’s and Addison’s political shenanigans. “You remind me of my husband when you say that....” he trailed off but then refocused on what he’d come there for. “There’s going to be a group of scientists and engineers that are going to protest the current administrative direction that the Nexus is taking.”

“And?” Kesh prodded. “Do you know who and when? If not then you’re not telling me anything I don’t know.”

Reyes sobered, the slight smile on his face withering away. “It’s going to be serious. There’s been promises made to your people.... ones that I’m fairly certain Tann won’t keep.”

Kesh’s look was thunderous. “What promises? And how would you know?”

Reyes fiddled with a cup that had been left on the edge of the desk. It was almost empty, only a slightly glimmer of dark fluid at the bottom. Clearing his throat, he organized his thoughts. “There’s going to be a promise of representation, of having a say-so in the new administration in return for putting down a rebellion.”

Kesh’s scowl deepened. “And how would you know this? Can you read Tann’s mind?”

Reyes shook his head. “No. And the promises aren’t going to come from Tann himself.... but from Spender.”

Spender’s name halted whatever Kesh was going to say next and she leaned back, crossing her arms across her chest to stop and look at Reyes more critically.“How do you know this?”

Reyes tried to smile but it was weak. “Would you believe me if I came across the information by complete accident?”

“No..... but you’re certain of this aren’t you?” She asked, head tilted and nostrils flared as she sniffed to scent him. When she next spoke, it wasn’t a question but a certainty. “You know... somehow you know and you’re sure....”

“If I told you how I know you wouldn’t believe me,” he added softly, like a confession and paused to see the impact of his words on her. She was less suspicious but the knowledge that there was soon to be an uprising and that her people would be used... she believed him.

“Why tell me?” Kesh finally asked.

“Because... when I contact you after I hope we can work together. We’ll need to in order for all of us to survive without the arks,” he told her, trying to impart to her how serious he was. Last time around, he’d had to use intermediaries but this time he wanted to have a channel to Kesh directly. He would do more this time around—they only had so much time to prepare. They had to be ready and infighting would just slow them down. If he started thinking about what was coming.... so much to do, so much to prepare for when the war would begin anew. It wasn’t the first conflict he dreaded... it was the second one. He wouldn’t lose his family a second time.

Kesh slowly nodded. “If your predictions are correct... contact me directly and we’ll talk then.”

“Thank you,” Reyes internally breathed a sigh of relief. She was at least willing to listen to him and keep the channel of communication open. That was the most he’d dared hope for.

“Don’t thank me yet,” she warned him. “If it happens like you say... I’m assuming you won’t be sticking around here. Andromeda is a hostile environment to carve out a home in—I’d hate to try it without the resources we have here as a starting point.”

Reyes shrugged his shoulders, hands at his sides. “I’ll manage somehow. I trust that we’ll make it someway.”

That got him a look of amusement as she relaxed further. “I suppose we’ll see what happens.”

“That we will,” he agreed. “I’ll contact you in a few weeks.”

“I will look for your message... now get out of my office unless you have something else to prophetize?” Kesh dismissed him, turning to look at her workstation where a chime played to indicate a new message.

“Thanks for you time,” he muttered then turned on his heel and left. He’d thrown Kesh off with his warning and she probably wanted to see what else she could turn up that didn’t come from him. He couldn’t blame her—if he’d come to himself at this point last time he’d have laughed in his own face and called himself crazy.

He still might be.

***

Two days until the uprising and he was passing between the docks and the trams and came upon two asari arguing. One was Peebee. Seeing her made his chest tight—she was so young and alive, vibrant. And having a screaming match with what he could only assume was her former girlfriend that he’d only ever heard stories about—or maybe that was current? Reyes remembered Scott telling him about how belittling and nasty Kalinda had been... and it seemed that it was still true in whatever version of time and space he was currently in.

“You’re such a baby—I can’t take you anywhere without you being an embarrassment!” Kalinda spat in Peebee’s face.

Peebee stomped her feet, hands clenched in fists as she bared her teeth at Kalinda. “I’m not a baby!Why won’t you listen to me?”Peebee’s voice was full of pain and anger—slicing right through Reyes chest to cause a pang in his heart. He’d missed her so much... but hadn’t dared look for any of Scott’s former teammates. He hadn’t wanted to upset anything and had actively gone out of his way to avoid both Vetra and Gil who he’d almost run into on more than one occasion.

Kalinda made a rude gesture. “I don’t have to listen to your immature and idiotic prattling about alien tech. You can only make suppositions since you’ve not yet even made it planetside! And why? Because you’re not even supposed to be here!”

Peebee had tears escaping her eyes and her lip trembled but she stood her ground, snapping back just as viciously. Reyes only half listened to her and Kalinda continue to argue, noticing that quite a crowd had gathered to watch the couple fight. They were attracting way too much attention and that could be a bad thing.Before he could stop to think, he stepped forward. “Ladies... as much as we all are enjoying the entertainment value of your disagreement... maybe we could take this to someplace a bit more private?”

That got him bother of their attention—Peebee was shocked by him intervening and the hostility fading slightly from her body. Kalinda, however, wasn’t nearly as affected. Eying Reyes like a piece of meat, Kalinda took her time to look at him up and down, face set in a leer. “And who are you?” She cooed. “Chivalry isn’t dead it seems after all.”

Reyes ducked his head and shuffled slightly as if embarrassed but he watched her from under his eyelashes. Kalinda had a vicious look to her eyes and he was inclined to believe every nasty thing Scott had ever mentioned about her. She was obviously older than Peebee, more experienced in every way. The lavicious look she was giving him was inappropriate and Peebee had noticed it, seemingly hunching into herself at it. Reyes immediately sensed that Kalinda was a user and a bully, sexually provocative and he wondered how someone as spirited as Peebee had become associated with her. “Perhaps,” he answered Kalinda. “However my point stands. And maybe both of you need some time apart?”

Peebee was looking at the ground, her mouth twisted in an angry scowl. Kalinda ignored Peebee and approached Reyes, threading her arm around his waist as she came in close, a flirtatious smile on her face as if she’d had a personality transplant. “My name’s Kalinda. Kalinda T’Reve. I don’t think we’ve met before.”

“We haven’t,” Reyes said flatly as he slipped out of her grip and put distance between them. He turned, ignoring her and approached Peebee. Peebee looked up at his approach, her eyes watery but she was holding together much better than he would have in her shoes. “I’m Reyes,” he whispered to her. “How about you and I go find a drink together? My name is Reyes.”

Peebee looked at Kalinda who was behind him before her eyes darted back to his, face smoothing slightly and she sniffled as she nodded in agreement. He noticed for the first time that she wasn’t wearing the thick band of dark kohl that he usually associated with her which made her look so vulnerable without.

“Great,” he told her, slightly louder as he held out his arm. Peebee took it and stayed close to his side as he guided her through the gathered crowd, murmuring small little jokes to distract her from them as they made their way to the local watering hole—Vortex.

Since it wasn’t even noon, the bar was mostly silent but there were still a few people sitting at tables scattered about and a low murmur of conversation. Reyes instinctively chose one of the corner tables that didn’t have anyone close by. He took the seat with his back to the corner so he could see the door, letting Peebee choose where to sit and she chose to sit across from him. When the server came around he nodded and ordered whiskey for himself and automatically ordered her favorite—akantha. Neither of them said much as they waited for their drinks which were served promptly.

Peebee stared at her drink, eyes briefly flicking to Reyes but then back to her drink before she hesitantly cupped it with both hands. “How’d you know?”

Taking a sip of his own whiskey, Reyes enjoyed the smoothness of the liquor before answering her. “Know what?”

She held up her drink. “It’s my favorite.....”

Reyes felt his eyebrows both go up in surprise. Damnit he’d forgotten for just a moment. Swallowing heavily, he shrugged carelessly. “Good guess I suppose. The few asari I’ve known all have liked it. I just assumed...”

“Oh,” she said softly. “Thanks for getting me out of there.”

“It was my pleasure.No one should have their romantic partner treat them like she was treating you,” he added supportively.

Peebee frowned slightly, eyes moving back to her drink and her hands were white knuckled from clutching it. “She loves me,” she insisted, eyes meeting Reyes. “She really does!”

Reyes wanted to shake her but knew now was not the time—he’d let Scott straighten this all out when he was supposed to. But in the meantime he’d make sure she had some support—it was too many months until Scott was going to be here. “Just don’t let her do that to you—you deserve to be treated better Peebee.”

Peebee nodded, her face slightly fallen and nose scrunched up. “My specialty is alien tech... I need to get to Eos but I’ve been having difficulty getting someone to take me.”

He took another drink to buy himself a moment to think. The uprising would occur in two days—originally he’d been on the Nexus but hadn’t participated. If he took the next assigned regular shuttle trip to Eos he’d possibly be gone during the uprising—not that it would break his heart to miss it. And Peebee needed to get to Eos some way. He knew that previously she’d gotten to Eos around the time of the uprising and he had the time. He’d just need to volunteer to take the assignment. “I could take you to Eos,” he offered.

Peebee’s head snapped up, “Really?”

“Yes really,” he repeated.”I can volunteer for the regular trip tomorrow and smuggle you onboard.”

Her smile was beautiful, the sadness and frustration melting away. “Thank you,” she breathed out, her hand reaching for his across the table and he let her take it. “I thought I’d be stuck here forever.”

He squeezed her hand and then pulled back. “I’m only promising to get you there. You’re going to be responsible for supplies and getting yourself back.”

“I can totally do that!” She said with enthusiasm.

“So tell me what you think you’ll find,” he asked her, settling back into his chair and putting one knee over the other. He’d always enjoyed listening to Peebee’s chatter—she was much more intelligent than most and had a sense of humor that was entertaining.

***

Peebee was true to her word and joined him at his shuttle early the next morning with a pack in tow. He’d warned her that she needed to be prepared to forage and live in a high radiation area and she’d taken him seriously, showing him the rations and gear she’d managed to collect. He internally worried a bit but he figured he’d send a message to Brecka strongly hinting that someone needed rescuing on Eos if he didn’t hear from her regularly, which she promised to let him know she was still alive at least once a week.He’d run into Brecka and gotten him invited to the nightly card games in the pilots lounge. Brecka was friendly but reserved—but Reyes knew he was honorable enough that if he sent him a message he’d see that Peebee got rescued.

The supply run was just that—a bunch of supplies for the struggling fist colony attempt, inaptly named Promise.Reyes had briefly struggled with the idea of attempting to make the colony effort flourish but without SAM he couldn’t heal Eos’ radiation problem. There’d been no people assigned for this run so he didn’t need to have Peebee smash into the under floor smuggling compartments that he’d altered his ship with. Peebee took the co-pilot chair and asked appropriate questions as he piloted them to Eos, talking for most of the seven hour journey. She was nervous but hiding it well, he thought.

In orbit above Eos, he could see the planet below them in all it’s brown and dusty red desert glory. He’d been down multiple times at this point and he knew what Peebee was going to be facing—the harsh winds, radiation, water scarcity. He hesitated. She was going to struggle to survive down there even with the ability to come to the colony for water and he hated that she’d struggle. Peebee was a friend and she, from their brief interactions, seemed fond of him as well. Closing his eyes, he mentally asked Scott if he was doing the right thing by helping Peebee out. The mental illusion of his husband smiled at him and he could almost feel Scott’s presence there with him in the cockpit.

“Wow... “ Peebee murmured from the copilot’s seat. “That’s Eos?”

Scott hadn’t told him what to do—not that Reyes expected it—and he opened his eyes to see Peebee hunched over the monitor, tapping on it to get more information. “Yes,” he breathed out with a sigh. “Yes that’s Eos.Are you sure about this?”

She turned to look at him, her face full of excitement and trepidation but a faint smile on it just for him. “It’s what I came here for Reyes.”Her voice sounded older now, similar to the Peebee he’d known before and he realized she needed to do this to become the woman he knew.

“One thing first,” he told her, bending to scrounge in his carry-on bag he’d stowed by his feet. Opening the first pocket, he pulled out the tube of dark kohl makeup that he’d seen her use in his past. Holding up the tube, he held it out to her. “You’re going to need this. It’s eye black for helping against the brightness of Pytheas. If you’re going to be spending as much time as I suspect out in the desert it’s going to be necessary or you’re going to be blind in a matter of days.”

Peebee took it from him, examining it. “How do I wear it?” She asked him.

Taking it back from her, Reyes opened the tube and put a smear of it on his finger and raised his hand towards her face. She pulled back slightly to look at his hand in question. “Let me show you the first time so you’ll know,” he said gently.

This reassured her and she nodded, leaning so he had better access to her face. Starting on the right, he carefully smeared the dark makeup into a band around her eyes in her trademark look, careful to rub the makeup in so it would stay but not pressing hard enough to hurt around the fragile eyes. Soon he had makeup smears all over his hands and he held them up so he wouldn’t put fingerprints on the rest of her face. “Like that.I think it suits you,” he told her as he admired his work.There was the Peebee he knew.

Getting up, he went to the wash station and pulled a few hand wipes to clean his hands.Peebee followed him and nudged him out of the way so she could see her face in the small shaving mirror that was attached to the wall. “Oh.... I like it!” She exclaimed, giving him an enthusiastic hug as he attempted to not get extra makeup all over her. “Thank you Reyes,” she whispered into his shoulder.“I don’t know why you’re so sad all the time but thank you so much.”

Reyes found himself thawing slightly, and he hugged her back briefly. “If it makes you happy then I must be doing the right thing.”

She cocked her head, eyes curious. “Is that why you decided to help me?”

Reyes broke the hug. “You remind me of someone I used to know. My husband had a friend like you.He’d want me to help you out.”

“Is your husband still in cryo on the Nexus?Are they refusing to wake him?” She asked with concern.

Reyes shook his head, aggressively stilling the part of himself that wanted to cry at the question. “He’s on the Hyperion.”

“Oh,” was the soft reply and then he was being hugged even tighter a second time. “He’ll get here Reyes.I know they’re lost now but there’s still hope.”

He hugged her back and found a few tears escaping despite his efforts. A sob wanted to make it’s way out of his throat but he swallowed it and breathed heavily, just hugging Peebee back and enjoying the feeling of holding an old and trusted friend whose death had been hard the first time around. Seeing her, a part of Scott’s team... he missed him so damn much.A minute or two later, he released Peebee. “Let’s get you down planetside. You have some ruins to take a look at.Did I mark them on your map?”

“You did,” she assured him as they both climbed back into their seats.

“Well let’s get going then.”

***

Landing at Promise went without a hitch. The scientists that came to unload the supplies he brought looked a bit more grey and worn than the last supply run he’d done. As he suspected, they didn’t blink twice at Peebee’s presence, having become numb due to the struggle of trying to make the colony viable.

When the unloading was finished, Peebee gave him one last hug and then a jaunty wave as she bounded away with her pack bouncing on her back. Reyes stood in the airlock watching hermove away. She’d be alright, he told himself. She had before and she would again.She was tougher than she looked.

Reluctantly shutting the airlock and getting back into his seat, he took a deep breath. He’d be back in time for the first scuffle so he’d need to make sure he was where he’d been before—in the pilot’s lounge—when the chaos broke out. He knew what role he would play and that he would keep out of the conflict that was about to happen. Tann was a sucky administrator but he was right about people needing to go back into cryo to preserve supplies—even if what followed was’t the best use of resources either.

Starting up the engines, he lifted off and settled into the trajectory he needed to escape Eos’ gravity. He had work to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story isn’t forgotten! I’ve had my writing time decrease quite significantly due to current pandemic events and I have to be in a very specific mood to write Reyes this way for this story—because he’s a bit broken in this one. I’ve set myself a goal of updating at least once a month until we’re done (a less ambitious schedule than AAT) unless my muse gets more on board with being in the right mood. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, comments are love, kudos adored.


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